Photovoltaic (PV) solar electric technology will be a significant contributor to world energy supplies when reliable, efficient PV power products are manufactured in large volumes at low cost. A promising pathway to reducing PV cost is the use of thin-film technologies in which thin layers of photoactive materials are deposited inexpensively on large-area substrates. The primary chalcogenide semiconductor absorber materials currently used for thin-film PV device applications are Cu(In,Ga)Se2 and CdTe. Despite the promise of these technologies, the toxicity of Cd and supply limitations for In and Te are projected to limit the production capacity of these existing chalcogen-based technologies to less than 100 Global Warming Potential (GWP) per year. This represents a small fraction of the world's growing energy needs, which are expected to double to 27 Terrawat by 2050.
The following embodiments and aspects thereof are described and illustrated in conjunction with systems, tools and methods that are meant to be exemplary and illustrative, not limiting in scope. In various embodiments, one or more of the above-described problems have been reduced or eliminated, while other embodiments are directed to other improvements.